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INDIANAPOLIS – Butler is still seeking its first victory in the Big East basketball tournament. But the Bulldogs have dominated the league in sportsmanship.

Tyler Wideman on Monday was announced as winner of the Big East Sportsmanship Award, as voted on by league coaches. He became the third Butler player in four years to be so honored, following Kellen Dunham in 2016 and Alex Barlow in 2015.

Wideman, a senior center, has been an intern at the Jewish Community Center working with preschool children, retirees and Special Olympians. He is also a middle school coach and has conducted basketball clinics for children with special needs.

“In addition to the way he carries himself on the court, Tyler is a young man who is a strong role model to those children who he works with on a daily basis,” Butler coach LaVall Jordan said. “He takes great pride in doing things the right way.”

Wideman leads the Big East in field goal percentage (.669). He is on pace to break Butler records for single-season and career field goal percentage. He has nearly doubled his free-throw percentage since his freshman year, from .415 to .817.

He averages 9.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He has the No. 24 offensive rating out of more than 2,000 college players, according to kenpom.com

Other Big East honors went to Creighton’s Khyri Thomas as defensive player of the year, Seton Hall’s Myles Powell as most improved and Villanova’s Donte DiVincenzo as sixth man award.

Out of 110 mock brackets posted Monday on bracketmatrix.com, Butler is in all 110. Two veteran bracketologists, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’ Jerry Palm, made Butler a No. 9 and 11 seed, respectively. In neither case was Butler among the last four teams in.

John Gasaway, who studies analytics for ESPN, includes Butler among the 343 teams that cannot win the NCAA championship. In doing so, however, he wrote:

“Is this a good place to point out that Kelan Martin and Butler didn’t seem to get the respect they deserved this season? In per-possession terms, the Bulldogs were the functional equivalent of Xavier in Big East play.”

Xavier (27-4) won the Big East title, is top seed in the conference tournament and ranked No. 2 in the USA Today/coaches’ poll.

Bulldog bits

Mark Smith is reportedly transferring from Illinois after his freshman season. Smith, a 2017 Mr. Basketball from Edwardsville, Ill., was recruited by Butler. The 6-4 forward averaged 5.8 points a game but had diminished minutes as the season wore on. . . . In league play, Big East teams averaged 76.9 points per 40 minutes. That is the most from a major conference in a decade, according to Gasaway. . . . Butler needs one victory for a 12th 20-win season in 13 years. . . . Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said Desi Rodriguez and Ismael Sanogo, who missed Saturday’s game because of injuries, were to go through light practice Monday and be re-evaluated Tuesday.

Call IndyStar reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.